HAWK RIDGE

Its fall! 

I love love love fall! 

The cooler weather, scarfs, hoodies, fleece and warm drinks. 

Oh and its MIGRATION season!!! 

Katie, Frank and I at the top of the ridge

Here in Minnesota we have Hawk Ridge, which happens to be one of the best migration spots for watching raptors right in the city of Duluth. This past week I was lucky enough to head up to the ridge and watch some birds. Katie and I also were able to catch up with some friends! Of course, on our way home, we swung into the Audubon Center so I could see some folks and critters. What a fantastic way to spend a couple days off.

Katie and I holding hatch year sharp-shinned hawks after they were banded

I adopted a Merlin!!! I was able to release this beautiful bird after it was banded

Saying Hi to Spike!

Sandstone Visit

A couple weeks back, I went up to Sandstone to hang with friends and teach a raptor program like the old days.  For me it was great change of pace - teaching about multiple species of raptors and a different program. Of course I had to get a couple pictures of me and an amazing little falcon along the way! On a side note, I was never too far from the eagle center. While looking across the pole barn, I noticed a calendar that had Columbia's (one of our female eagles) picture for the month of July.

Isis and I!

Isis and I teaching about falcons!

Sandstone Visit

Spent a long weekend visiting friends and critters up north. It was great to see folks again and catch up!

Kaitlyn and I spent much of the weekend training birds. She even let me be an eagle trainer :)

Porcupine Kisses!

Love this face

Spike "tackling" me to get his rodent pellets

Isis

The  newest ed critter - Poppy

ACNW Visit

My Audubon Center of the North Woods folks (see above) visited me last Sunday. I showed them the eagle center and went out to find some goldens. I had a blast!

A couple of them were SUPER sneaky and managed to hide a "gift" in my workspace. Since I am stuck with the tennis ball for the near future, I decided to put it to got use and let the eagles enjoy. Surprisingly, Donald interacted with it the most!

Was'aka and tennis ball

Donald investigating!

Back to the Northwoods

This past weekend, I headed up to visit friends and critters at Audubon. It was great to catch up with folks and see a few of my favorite animals :)

Spike investigating some raspberry

Spike and I

Northwoods Cookies!

A Few last Audubon Things

Hummingbird

Thought I would share a few last pictures I took while working at the Audubon Center. Above is a Ruby-throated Hummingbird that was buzzing around the bushes while I at dinner one night. I was pretty excited to sneak up on him and actually get a picture of him perching.

My last day at the Center started with bird hike. It was lead by extremely knowledgeable birder and it was nice to get out of the office. The mosquitoes almost carried us away though. Despite the annoying bites, we saw a fair number of birds including this baby bluebird!

But before I left the center I had a few more things to leave behind. First off, I made Jeff a birch bark picture frame as a Thank You gift for putting up with me the past 3 years. It turned out pretty nice. And it was made with materials found on the property.

Secondly, I had to write on the wall of the staff house. This a tradition where each person who has lived in the house leaves a message behind for future folks. I couldn't figure out how to sum up my experience so I kept it pretty short and sweet. I also put it right by the note left by people from my first year. AWW!

I will certainly miss many things about the center but am excited for whats coming up. Besides, many of these people have become good friends and I will be in contact with them for years to come :)

Goodbyes

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened" - Dr Seuss

I hate saying goodbye. Yesterday was my last day in Sandstone at the Audubon Center of the North Woods. It was an amazing couple years. I learned a lot, got to try a bunch of new things and made some amazing friends along the way. Before I left, Jeff and I took one last picture (see above). We each got a bird from our favorite family of raptors and wore a shirt from our favorite state. I certainly will miss all my friends and critters but hopefully will be on to bigger adventures.

Hawk Release

Close up of the hawk!

On Friday morning, the Audubon Center got a call from the Raptor Center. They were sending a rough-legged hawk up with a volunteer to be released on our property. Its always exciting to see an animal released. We were lucky enough to be able to share this with about 40 fifth graders that were visiting - what a memorable thing for them to see at the end of their trip!

Showing students the hawk right before release

Back to the wild!

Gibwanasii's First Program

Tonight Gibwanasii did his first raptor program! It was a little rough at the beginning but once he settled down he did great! I am so proud of my little buddy and glad all our hard work paid off :)

Teaching

Picture time after teaching the 5th graders about falcons

Adorable Porcupine!

Spike enjoying some apple while teaching

This winter has been super mild. A bummer if you want to get out skiing or snowshoeing but a really good thing if you happen to be training a porcupine. Porcupines hate when there it is snowy, rainy, too hot or too cold. In these situations, they tend to curl up and not move. With the lack of snow and reasonably warm weather, Spike has made lots of progress with his training in the past couple weeks. For example, I can give Spike his cue to go into his crate and he walks across his enclosure and goes in! He also has been doing much better with the rest of the staff and teaching on a more regular basis.

I think Spike is absolutely adorable so here are a few pictures of him (and me) from the past month.

Its hard to be photogenic while holding a wiggly porcupine

Spike exploring the main room of the barn

Spike teaching!

An Owl Weekend

Are you sick of owls yet? I kinda am but I still get super excited about finding one in the wild. On Friday I was lucky enough to find one while walking between buildings at work. It was a barred owl and I don't think it was amused that I found it.

It has been an owl filled weekend for me. Saturday I did a booth event at Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge's Winterfest. We brought 4 birds and talked to people about owls. Over the course of 5 hours we saw nearly 1,000 people. It was an exhausting but good day!

Gibwanasii!

Meet the newest member to the education team at the Audubon Center. Its a male American kestrel! He came to us through a rehab center in Utah. Somewhere along the line he became imprinted and was turned into a rehabber after coming down to see construction workers repeatedly.

Since we just got this bird on Monday, he is still getting acclimated but so far its looking like he will be an awesome education bird. We named him Gibwanasii, which means American kestrel in Ojibwe. I can't wait to start training him!

Open House

This weekend  was the Audubon Center's annual open house. It was crazy busy and a ton of people came out. I got to spend the day with the birds in a roped area sharing their stories with the general public. 

Sunrise on my way into work!

Isis showing off!

So beautiful!

Also, check out this newsletter from a program I did this summer at Father Hennepin State Park. You will see a couple familiar faces on page 4 :)

A little bit of work and play

 Yesterday, I went on a hike at the Audubon Center. It was the first time in quite awhile that I was able to walk the trails here because of the bugs. Along the way, I was playing with the settings on my camera. Despite having it for 4 years now, I am still finding new settings!! The last picture was taken by one of the new interns - its me doing a raptor program (can you tell I enjoy teaching people about falcons?).

Chickory

 Tall grasses by a wetland

Trail in the pine plantation

"Isis" and I at a raptor program

Osprey Tower!!

Check it out - a little over a week ago now, the center put up an osprey nesting platform. I helped out and took a lot of pictures while it was going up. I even got to learn a couple new tools :) Eventually a web cam will be put up. Now all we have to do is cross our fingers that osprey show up!!

Me pitching in - attaching an anchor the climbers can use

The volunteers and staff hard at work!

There she goes!

At the base of the tower

 

 

 

Wildlife staff and the finished project!

Dakota

Check out Dakota's nice beak! 

She is a red-tailed hawk and turned 20 this year. During her first year, she was shot in the wing for an unknown reason. The wing didn't heal correctly and now she lives at the Audubon Center. 

Anyways. this morning, I finally got enough courage to go ahead and cope (trim) her beak. I also did her talons (toes nails). Dakota was a patient teacher. Looks good, right?